Extreme Shinobi Challenge
by ChaosKunai
Summary: After Sasuke and Naruto break out in yet another fight, Tsunade comes to the realization that all of the Genin want to know who's the strongest. This brings her to holding a worldwide tournament between all Genin, to see just who is the best of all.
1. Annoying Paperwork and Another Fight

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. So sad, isn't it? I wish I did, but I don't.

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A woman stood over the city of Konoha. Her eyes were hidden by the hat that she wore, the hat declaring that she was the Hokage. She looked down upon the city, seeing the many shinobi walking about. It was a very peaceful day in Konoha. She had just remembered how she had arrived in the city to obtain the title; Jiraiya and Uzumaki Naruto had gone on a long look for her, just so she could become the Hokage. She had to admit, being an all powerful kage was fun (except for the paperwork, of course). She heard slow footsteps coming up to the roof of the building she was on. A man as tall as the woman walked up to her. He had a bandage covering his nose that went all around his head. He had very spiky hair that was almost untamable. He was a Chuunin, one of the many that worked for Konoha. He had a tactical green vest which a lot of the Chuunin and the Jonin wore, even though it was not required to wear it. 

"Yes, Hagane?" The woman said aloud. The man bowed as the woman turned around, lifting the hat a little so her eyes could be seen.

"Tsunade-sama, the papers are here," Hagane said. "They require your signing and overlooking."

"Ugh, MORE paperwork?" The Hokage named Tsunade sighed. "I need a small break from all this work, or else I just might end up exploding."

Before Hagane could respond, another Chuunin appeared from behind him. His hair was covering his right eye, and the cloth part of his headband covered his scalp. Tsunade raised an eyebrow at his sudden appearance. He was also equipped with the green vest. He had a worried expression on his face.

"What's wrong, Kamizuki?" Tsunade asked calmly.

"Tsunade-sama," The Chuunin said, breathing heavily. "2 Genin have gotten into a fight and our Jonin can't even stop them!"

Tsunade lowered her eyebrow and sighed. "You're telling me that a Jonin can't stop a fight between 2 of our Genin?"

"It's Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke..." Kamizuki replied.

Tsunade sighed again. "Fine, I'm on it...where are they?"

"In the academy's courtyard," Kamizuki said.

Tsunade disappeared in a flash, Hagane and Kamizuki following right after. Naruto and Sasuke fighting...again? They had almost killed each other last time; luckily Kakashi was able to stop them. What would happen if a Jonin couldn't stop them this time?

"RASENGAN!"

A blonde haired boy ran toward his opponent, an orb of rotating chakra in his hand. He thrusted the hand forward, ready to strike his opponent. The other boy sighed and threw a kick moving the arm out of his way, then used his other leg to kick the blonde in the side of his face. The blonde fell to the ground, but got up quickly.

"KATON: GOKAKYU NO JUTSU!"

"GET HIM, SASUKE!" Ino screamed.

"Naruto, why do you always have to pick fights with him...?" Sakura said to herself.

"_N-Naruto-kun..." _Hinata saw the anger on Naruto's face and made a small frown.

The boy in the blue shirt opened his mouth and an incredibly large ball of flame came out. The blonde quickly side stepped out of the way and ran to his enemy, delivering a punch to the cheek.

Suddenly, a puff of smoke appeared and Tsunade appeared. Behind her were Hagane and Kamizuki, and even Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai. "You two, stop this now."

Everyone watching the fight had suddenly stopped cheering.

The blonde haired boy, realizing that his fist was still on the other boy's cheek, quickly retracted the fist and relaxed it. The other boy wiped off some blood of his mouth, and fixed his hands in his pockets.

"Why in the world were you two fighting? AGAIN?" Tsunade asked, adding a tone in her voice that made her sound like she wanted an answer quickly.

"Well, Old Lady, Sasuke here thinks he's better than me!" The blonde haired boy replied almost instantly.

"And he was right!" A multitude of girls said at once.

"And that's a reason to start a fight and almost kill each other?" Tsunade said with a sigh in her voice.

"Well, I needed to prove it to him that I was, since I am!" The blonde haired boy stated.

"You aren't!" The same group of girls said.

The blonde haired boy simply ignored this.

Tsunade looked at the blonde haired boy with angry eyes. "If you really wanted a fight, Naruto, you could have at least asked someone to supervise it, like Iruka, or maybe even me."

The boy called Naruto zipped up his orange jacket taking the black undershirt underneath out of sight. He simply turned around and said, "Well, I needed to show him now."

The boy with the blue shirt and black hair stood silent.

Naruto quickly turned around and held up a fist. "THERE YOU GO ACTING COOL AGAIN!"

Tsunade sighed. "Sasuke, I'm angry at you too, for actually accepting his challenge."

The Uchiha stayed quiet.

Tsunade sighed another time and lowered her head. "What's so great about being the strongest ninja, especially if you're only a Genin?"

Suddenly multiple amount of answers came from the crowd.

"People know you're strong!"

"People fear you!"

"People treat you well!"

"You get noticed in the village."

Tsunade's head rose again with an eyebrow rose. Did being the strongest really mean so much to these Genin? They all wanted power. They all wanted the others to know they were the strongest. They all wanted to be noticed. She looked around and saw everyone chatting about what it meant to be strong and powerful. She then looked to Naruto and Sasuke who were facing the other direction.

"So you all want to be powerful then?" Tsunade said aloud, which quickly stopped the chit chat. This was followed by nods from all the Genin, even Naruto and Sasuke.

"Well, then...why don't we find out who really is the strongest?" Tsunade replied with a smirk on her face. "All who are interested meet me in my office in exactly 2 hours." Then like that, she disappeared. Hagane, Kamizuki, Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai then told everyone to go back to their homes and then they left themselves.

As Naruto left, Hinata looked at him leave and somehow managed a small smile on her face.


	2. What's the Extreme Shinobi Challenge?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and I never will.

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All the Genin of Konoha quickly walked to the Hokage's office. They were walking in large groups, and separated by gender. All the girls in several groups of 5 or 10, and all the boys in several groups or 5 or more. Sasuke was all the way in the back, and several of the girls waved to him, including Sakura and Ino. Naruto was up front with Shikamaru. 

"So, Shikamaru, where's Choji?" Naruto said walking along with a big grin on his face.

"He didn't wanna come; say's he would get beaten easily. I don't know why I'm joining this myself...everything this Hokage does is usually troublesome..."

The Genins quickly walked up the stairs to Lady Tsunade's office. When they arrived inside, they were amazed to see at least 300 other Genin, from all the other villages. They also saw several Jonin and Chuunin from the other villages. Naruto looked at all the people and only saw a small amount of people he knew. Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, Neji, Rock Lee, Shino, Shikamaru, Kiba, Ino, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro and Tenten. At the Hokage's desk, Lady Tsunade's back faced them. After everyone was settled and quiet, she turned around with a short smile on her face.

"Welcome, Genin of the world. Now, before I tell you about what's going on, whom here thinks they are the most powerful out of everyone here?" Tsunade asked.

A couple of hands went up into the air, including the ever vibrant Naruto. Many stayed silent though, including Sasuke, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, and Shino.

"Right, well, those of you that think you are will get your chance to prove it with the Extreme Shinobi Challenge," Tsunade gladly pronounced.

A few eyebrows went up in confusion, and Naruto even blathered out, "What the hell is the Extreme Shinobi Challenge, Old Lady?"

A few chuckles from the audience.

"It's a simple tournament that will state who really is the strongest Genin. I haven't seen any fun in a while, and since the Chuunin Exam was stopped midway, I figured some people didn't have their chance to show their true power. Sounds good, right?"

Several nods from all the ninjas.

"Okay then. We have set up 14 perimeters in several forests around and outside Konoha. There will be 35 Genin per perimeter. There will be 2 Jonin to each perimeter. Basically, it's a free for all fight. The last one standing moves to the real tournament, so consider this a preliminary. No rules at all, just fight as much as you can. But, let me warn you..."

"This is the same deal with the Chuunin Exam. You might die. So, if anyone wants to leave, you may."

Some of the students began to walk out of the room.

"But...you may not care if you could die...that is if you enjoy being rich."

Everyone looked at Tsunade.

"The winner of the Extreme Shinobi Challenge not only wins the title of strongest Genin, but also one million ryo."

Everyone's eyes widened. All the students that were about to leave had come back.

"Hey, Hokage-sama," Shikamaru said aloud.

Tsunade's head turned into his direction. "Yes, Shikamaru?"

"They say I was selected to be a Chuunin. I'm okay with this, even though it is...a bit troublesome. So how am I allowed into the tournament?"

"Well, we're still checking over the stats of all the participants in the tournament, so no one's a Chuunin just yet," Tsunade stated.

"Hokage-sama!" A leaf Genin called out. "How can we trust these Sand and Sound Genin? They tried to destroy Konoha!"

Everyone stood quiet, and eyes shifted from one person to another.

"Orochimaru was behind that. His whereabouts are unknown right now. Besides..." Tsunade gave a firm glare to the Sand and Sound Jonin and Genin. "They know not to screw up with Konoha."

"Well, I hope Orochimaru hasn't killed anyone's desire from this tournament..." Tsunade said, looking around.

No one said anything.

"Right. I'm glad you're still interested. Now, the perimeters are surrounded by four 15 foot high cement walls. To come out as the winner, just be the last one standing. Now, go look for the perimeters. When they're full, the 2 Jonin will block access, so if that happens you'll to find another one."

"The Jonin will allow access to the perimeters in 1 hour. In the meantime, go talk about this with anyone who might be concerned about you. Remember...you could end up dead. Dismissed."

And like that, all the Genin and Jonin were gone.

"This oughta be fun..." Tsunade said with a smile on her face.


	3. The Explosive Preliminaries

**Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Naruto and I never will be. That sounded formal. **

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Four solid walls. Thirty-five Genin. One ninja stood calmly in all the bloody action. On his face, there was a tiny spot. This wasn't any mark; it was a bug. His glasses hid his eyes, and he had on a coat that covered the bottom portion of his head. 

"_Kikaichu no Jutsu." _The ninja said in a voice that was almost completely silent.

Suddenly, a massive amount of bugs, at least one thousand, came from all over his body. They went to the floor, and began climbing up all the other Genin. When they were positioned, they slowly began to suck the chakra out of the Genin, without them even knowing. Suddenly all at once, every Genin fell to the ground, motionless. All the bugs quickly came back to the host; Aburame Shino. The 2 Jonin watching jumped down and escorted the Aburame back to the Hokage's office. Medical ninja came to pick up the dead remains.

The next perimeter was 35 yards away.

"_KATON: HOUSENKA NO JUSTU!"_

6 fireballs shot out of the mouth of the Uchiha, burning one Genin per fireball. Sasuke quickly ran up to one Genin and kicked him in the face, knocking him into two other Genin, making a total count of 9 down. Twenty six more Genin to go...he still had some Chakra left. Performing quick seals, he prepared his next attack.

"_KATON: GOUKAKYU NO JUTSU!"_

Opening his mouth, Sasuke let out a large ball of flame. It even set the grass and trees in the perimeter aflame, causing the fiery grass to set people's shoes on fire, which eventually rose up to their bodies and burned them to death. 10 Genin remained, and they decided to finish him together before going against themselves. Sasuke closed his eyes and quickly opening them again, revealing his Sharingan.

The remaining Genin threw a multiple amount of kunai and shuriken. Sasuke quickly dodged them all. Using the Sharingan to predict the other's Genin movements, he quickly made a shadow clone and appeared standing on the wall behind them. As soon as they attacked the clone, he came down and performed a powerful kick hitting the Genin farthest on the left, sending him flying to the right, crashing into the other Genin, knocking them unconscious. Sasuke deactivated the Sharingan and walked ahead of the Jonin, practically escorting himself. _"I only used one third of my full strength there..." _Medical ninja quickly came and gathered the unconscious/burned ninja.

The next perimeter was 47 yards away.

Inside, a kunoichi jumped up into the air, a long scroll spinning around her in a spiral formation. She spun along with the scroll, touching the several marks on the inside of the scroll. Summoning a ninja tool per symbol on the scroll, she threw them very quickly in every direction. When the symbol was used, it quickly disappeared, allowing one use per scroll. Kunai, shuriken, small swords, small scythes, and everything else. At least half of the other Genin were quickly killed if not knocked unconscious with just that one attack. She landed as the scroll disappeared, and the remaining Genin quickly ran away, jumping over the perimeter walls. The kunoichi smiled and laughed. "I understand why they would be afraid of me. I am Tenten, after all." She waited for the Jonin to come down and escort her back to Tsunade's office. A medical ninja team came to the unconscious Genin. Most of them hadn't had the weapons penetrate their skin hard enough to kill them, but some of them had their bones fractured.

54 yards until the next perimeter.

A ninja kicked a Genin into the air, and jumped in such a way that allowed him to appear under him. Grabbing them, he spun around so he was on top and then he simply pushed them to the ground. He was smart enough to not even try the Omote Renge in the preliminaries. The Genin fell down unconscious, and the green-suited user came back down. This was Rock Lee, taijutsu specialist. 2 Genin quickly rushed to attack him, and he performed a roundhouse kick and knocked them unconscious. He ran toward another Genin and punched him in the face with so much force he went flying back into one of the walls while taking another 2 Genin with him.

"_Konoha Daisenpu!"_

Lee leaped forward and performed a spinning kick with both legs. One of the Genin targeted ducked, so the higher leg hit the Genin behind him and the second leg still hit the one that ducked since the second leg was lowered just incase that were to happen. Several Genin were left, and they all ran in a straight line toward Lee. They were no doubt going to disperse when they got close, but Lee wouldn't allow that. He ran forward, and kicked the leader in the face with extreme force, knocking him unconscious. He went flying back, knocking all the other Genin behind him (which were at least 20), which knocked them all unconscious too. Lee smiled and kicked the air in front of him as he was brought back to Tsunade's office. A medical ninja team arrived to survey the damage and bring the Genin to the hospital; most of them had suffered from minor fractures and broken bones.

A short 10 yards until the 5th perimeter.

"_Byakugan!"_

Veins suddenly appeared around his eyes. A near perfect vision of 360 degrees. He quickly grabbed a kunai coming at him from behind and quickly spun around, throwing it back and also snapping someone's neck at the same time. 3 Genin were leaping at him from behind. He turned around and performed a quick slide under them, causing them to hit the ground head-first, causing concussions to all of them. He smirked as he saw 10 out of the remaining Genin all run toward him, kunai-in-hand.

"_Hakkesho Kaiten!"_

Spinning very quickly, the ninja began to use a solid amount of chakra expelled from his entire body. This created some sort of a force field around him, and the Genin charging at him went flying back as soon as they made contact with it. All the Genin flying back caused the other Genin standing around to go unconscious too, as they had crashed into them. Stopping the spin, Hyuuga Neji gave a small smirk as he brought his eyes back to normal and escorted himself back to the Hokage's office, pretending like the Jonin weren't there. The medical ninja team arrived and saw most of them had lived, just that they were knocked unconscious.

The 6th perimeter, 30 yards away from the 5th, held possibly the most deadly contestant.

Sabaku no Gaara.

Gaara stood on top of the wall, the other Genin fighting each other not even noticing him. He waited for the perfect moment. It came when all the Genin focused on the weakest one there, who was cowering in the corner. In an instant, Gaara released a large quality of sand from his gourd. The sand quickly crept down the wall, and wrapped itself around the neck of the Genin in the corner. The other Genin backed away quickly at the sight of this. The cowering Genin was lifted by the sand and slammed into the wall. The sand let go of the neck the second the Genin hit the wall, making sure to not kill him, but only to knock him unconscious. Gaara looked to the other Genin. They all gave up and vanished, and Gaara was escorted to Tsunade's office. A single medical ninja came to the unconscious ninja that was slammed against the wall; his head was hit so hard against the wall he would probably be in a coma for at least 2 years.

The 7th perimeter, 14 and ½ yards away from the 6th, held possibly the smartest and most tactical contestant.

Nara Shikamaru.

Shikamaru sat in the corner, an upside down circle formed with his two hands. He was in his thinking pose. He was thinking of a solution to take out 34 enemies quickly, before anything would get to...troublesome. He looked up at the clouds...calm and peaceful...nothing like what was going on in this mini prison. He got up and performed a quick seal.

"_Kagemane no jutsu_," Shikamaru said in a low voice, making sure not to be heard.

His shadow quickly crawled along the floor, and no one even noticed. The shadow made its way to one Genin that was about to throw a kunai at another one. For some reason, he felt like he couldn't. The Genin looked down and saw a thin line of shadow extend to a smirking Shikamaru. The Genin was now bound to Shikamaru's every movement. Shikamaru reached for a kunai in his pouch, and the other Genin did the same. Shikamaru turned around so that he was facing the wall opposite of him. There were no other Genin in his way; however, the Sound Genin he was attached to was facing all the other fighting Genin. In swift movements, Shikamaru threw kunai at different angles toward the wall he was facing. The Sound Genin did the same, but since the other Genin were in his way, he had thrown kunai into them, whether it be their legs or arms and even their backs. Shikamaru kept throwing, making sure to get the correct angles. Eventually all the other Genin except Shikamaru and the Genin he was attached to were immobilized in extreme pain. Shikamaru threw a kunai in the Sound Genin's direction, and the Sound Genin did the same. While Shikamaru threw the kunai, he released his shadow, and quickly bent over. The Sound Genin, thinking the shadow still connected theme, expected to duck also. When he realized that they weren't bound together anymore, the kunai stabbed him in the head, causing instant death. Shikamaru went back to Tsunade's office, hands stifled in his pockets. The medical ninjas arrived; nothing more than a few stabs and a few bones fractures besides the one who didn't die.

The 8th perimeter, a very short 7 yards away from the one holding Shikamaru.

Inside there, a ninja had a multiple amount of strings attached to his fingers. He stood on top of the wall, and below, his puppets stood still. The Genin below backed away quickly, putting as much distance between them as they could. The puppeteer laughed as his puppets released a poisonous gas inside the perimeter. He made sure to not let it escape the perimeter itself. The other Genin began coughing and running around, trying to escape. Some of them began to scale the using their wall-climbing jutsu to escape, but halfway on the wall they all fell down to their death from inhaling too much of the gas. The puppeteer stored the puppets away and walked off toward Tsunade's office. The medical ninjas came and checked the amount of the gas in their systems. It had killed all their internal organs. Kankuro and his puppets were their last sight.

8 perimeters out of 14 cleared so far. The 9th was holding the Hyuuga heir to the throne, Hinata, cousin to Hyuuga Neji.

"_Byakugan!"_

Hinata quickly ducked dodging a kunai which then ended up impaling the young Genin in front of her. She turned around quickly delivered a punch to a Genin's face that was about to attempt a stab.

"_Juken!"_

Hinata performed a quick side step and gave a small unimpressive hit with the palm of her hand to a Genin's chest. The Genin quickly fell down in excruciating pain. This was the Juken. Through the use of the Byakugan and excellent Chakra control, the user can forcefully channel their own chakra into the enemy's inner coil system, damaging vital organs. Hinata quickly stopped all the Genin coming her way with a simple tap on the shoulder, stomach, or even an arm, which rendered them immobile. When she had finished everyone off, her eyes returned to normal and she waited for the Jonin escorts. She walked back to the Hokage's office in a very quiet and shy manner, her Jonin escorts ahead of her. After the medical ninja team came, they saw that ones not attacked by Juken were lucky.

"_Good luck, Naruto-kun..."_

The 10th perimeter stood a whole 120 yards away from the 9th.

Inside, a certain pink-haired kunoichi was throwing kunai and shuriken in a quick rush. All the Genin wanted her out first. She quickly focused chakra into her feet and ran along the walls, throwing kunai and shuriken in every direction. She took out half of the Genin in a very quick manner. The kunoichi suddenly fell on the ground though; she had wasted too much of her chakra using the wall-climbing jutsu. The Genin closed in on her, smirks on their faces, knowing that the troublesome kunoichi was finished. When one the Genin stabbed her with a kunai, it turned out to be a wooden log. A wooden log with an explosive tag. The Genin quickly turned around and jumped in an attempt to escape the perimeter, but the explosive tag set the insides of the perimeter aflame, badly burning the other Genin. The kunoichi jumped out of a tree in the perimeter area with a smile on her face. The medical ninja team came and saw nothing but stabs and burns.

"_HELL YEAH! THAT'S RIGHT! HARUNO SAKURA GOING TO EXTREME SHINOBI CHALLENGE!"_ Sakura's Inner said with an explosive voice. Sakura was then escorted to Tsunade's office.

The 11th perimeter. The most isolated perimeter, an enormously long 532 yards away from the 11th, right in the middle of the dense forest that all the perimeters were in.

"_JUJIN BUNSHIN!"_

2 ninja look-alikes began to fight the other Genin the area. A kick to the face, a punch to the stomach, even a bite to the arm. Suddenly a Genin appeared behind the look-alike and stabbed him in the stomach with a kunai. The look-alike quickly changed into a dog.

"Akamaru!"

The real ninja charged head first toward the dog, knocking at least 3 Genin unconscious. Quickly picking up the dog, he fed him a small red pill. Letting go the dog, its fur turned red and its teeth grew sharper.

"Akamaru, again!"

The dog quickly jumped on the back of its owner as the owner bended over.

"_JUJIN BUNSHIN!"_

The dog transformed into an exact copy of its owner once again; Inuzuka Kiba.

"_GATSUGA!"_

Kiba and Akamaru jumped into the air and began spinning at a ferocious speed, bouncing off the walls and floors, ripping apart the Genin when contact was made. They landed back on the ground and Akamaru went back to his dog form and jumped back in Kiba's coat. Kiba went ahead of the Jonin toward Tsunade's office, praising Akamaru for his good work. When the medical ninjas arrived, they found out it was the same deal with Hinata; the ones who weren't hit by the special attack were the lucky ones.

The 12th perimeter, 400 yards away from the 11th. This perimeter and the 10th are the ones that make the 11th isolated.

On the inside of the walls, a blonde kunoichi was having trouble with the other Genin. She needed to distract them to finish it off the way she wanted it too. Putting chakra in the soles of her shoes, she ran to the top of the south wall and threw a kunai with 3 explosive tags tied to the end of it toward the center of the stage. All the others quickly dodged it, but were blinded for a short amount of time by all the smoke. The blonde quickly made her way to the only tree in the perimeter and settled herself behind the leaves, rendering herself invisible. When the smoke cleared, all the other Genin looked around, searching for her.

"_Shintenshin no Jutsu," _the blonde said in a very quiet tone.

The blonde-haired girl's spirit slowly exited her body and entered a random Genin. Now in control of that body, she quickly rendered all the Genin except the one her spirit was in unconscious with a quick punching combo and a lower spin kick. She let her spirit free and brought it back to herself. Once conscious, she saw the one Genin she took control of confused, thinking he had won. The blonde-haired girl threw a kunai with an explosive tag when the Genin was facing the other way. The kunai settled itself in the Genin's back, and shortly after the explosive tag exploded, causing instant death. She jumped out and screamed, "Ino wins again!" Yamanaka Ino walked ahead of the Jonin like many of the other Genin, proud of herself. The medical team came and saw the only that was really dead was the last one killed. Apparently the explosive set all of his inner organs aflame and completely disrupted his flow of chakra.

The 13th perimeter, a mild 43 yards away from the 12th, held the ever excited Naruto.

"_Kage bunshin no jutsu!" _

And like that, 49 more Narutos appeared everywhere. All the Genin charged forward although clearly outnumbered. Many of the Naruto clones were gone in an instant, even though they did deal some damage before going. When all the clones were gone, 14 Genin still stood excluding Naruto. Naruto quickly made 37 clones. Now in a total number 38, 14 of the clones gathered rotating chakra in their hands, and one clone formed it per sphere. The 14 helper clones quickly disappeared and each Naruto went toward one Genin.

"_RASENGAN!"_

The balls of spinning chakra hit each of the Genin hard in the stomach. All of them went flying back and collided with the southern wall. Naruto smirked as his clones disappeared. He ran far ahead of his Jonin watchers, excited to be entered into the Extreme Shinobi Challenge. The medical team came and saw the ones hit with the Rasengans were critically injured, if not already dead.

The final perimeter, a short 23 yards away from the 13th, held the contestant who used wind as her main weapon. Temari.

Inside, all the Genin were creeping slowly toward Temari, knowing that she was too much of a threat to fight on their own. Temari sighed and examined her nails. One brave Genin leaped forward in an attempt to stab her, but she simply looked up and hit him in the face with the end her closed fan, sending him flying backward into the southern wall, killing him. She opened her fan revealing one purple circle.

"One moon..."

Two Genin ran forward, thinking she was bluffing about her strength, to attack. Temari quickly created a small air current that pushed them to the southern wall also, although only knocking them unconscious. She opened her fan father revealing a second circle.

"Two moons..."

Three Genin leaped forward and threw 1 kunai each toward Temari, each equipped with an explosive tag. Temari sighed and waved her fan, turning the kunai around in mid air, and then she waved it again, making them fly backward toward the Genin and impale the three Genin themselves. She set down her fan and ducked under the cover of it to make sure not to take any damage of the explosions. She stood up again and opened her fan to its fullest potential. The three Genin backed away as they saw the 3rd moon. They turned around and began to run to the wall, in an attempt to escape death.

"_Kamaitachi no Jutsu!"_

Using one powerful wave of her fan, Temari created a huge whirlwind fused with chakra. The other Genin were thrown into the air and their bodies began to get cut apart. They all fell down with a thud; they were unconscious. Temari threw a small "Hmph" as she closed her fan and put it on her back. She walked behind her Jonin escorts, examining her nails. The medical ninja team and saw that only the Genin hit in the head with the fan was the only one that suffered death; all the others were badly cut and knocked unconscious.

And so, the preliminaries were finished.


	4. The Preliminary Results Are In!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I wish I was a ninja.**

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Tsunade looked outside her window. As the winners entered her room, she did not turn, and they stayed silent. When the last one came in, she slowly turned around and saw the winners. A small smile grew on her face. 

"So these are the winners?" Tsunade asked the Jonin escorts.

"Yes, here are the records," The Jonins replied. Tsunade received a large amount of papers and began looking over them.

"Aburame Shino...all opposing 34 Genin killed. 1 jutsu used, Kikaichu no Jutsu. Estimated time is 3 minutes and 1 second."

Naruto's eyes widened as he looked over to Shino.

"Uchiha Sasuke...13 Genin knocked unconscious, 21 burned to death. 3 jutsu used, Housenka no Jutsu, Goukakyu no Jutsu, Bunshin no Jutsu. Sharingan bloodline limit used. Estimated time is 5 minutes and 53 seconds."

Naruto crossed his arms and looked away, while Ino and Sakura looked at him mystified.

"Tenten...23 Genin with multiple bones fractures, 21 gave up. Extreme amount of weapons used. Estimated time is 4 minutes and 23 seconds."

Tenten smiled as Lee gave her a thumb up.

"Lee...all opposing 34 Genin knocked unconscious. Konoha Daisenpu taijutsu used. Estimated time is 6 minutes and 20 seconds."

Lee gave a small smile.

"Hyuuga Neji...3 Genin with minor traumatic brain injury, 31 knocked unconscious. Hakkesho Kaiten taijutsu used. Byakugan bloodline limit used. Estimated time is 3 minutes and 54 seconds."

Hinata lowered her head.

"Sabaku no Gaara...1 Genin knocked unconscious, 33 gave up. No jutsu used at all. Estimated time is 1 minute and 21 seconds."

Everyone's eyes widened, even Temari and Kankuro.

"Nara Shikamaru, 1 Genin killed, 33 knocked unconscious with minor stabs and bone fractures. 1 jutsu used, Kagemane no Jutsu. Estimated time is 7 minutes and 43 seconds."

Shikamaru gave a sigh. _"That was troublesome..."_

"Kankuro...all 34 opposing Genin killed. Special tools used were puppets, Karasu and Kuroari. Estimated time is 3 minutes and 3 seconds."

Kankuro gave a small laugh.

"Hyuuga Hinata...2 Genin knocked unconscious, 32 rendered immobile. Juken taijutsu used. Byakugan bloodline limit used. Estimated time is...3 minutes and 30 seconds."

"Hey, Hinata! Good job!" Naruto said aloud with a big grin on his face as he turned toward Hinata.

Hinata's eyes widened. Not only had she finished faster than Neji, but Naruto had commented on her fighting!

"T-Thank you..." She said in her small, shy voice.

"Continuing on..." Tsunade said. "Haruno Sakura...23 knocked unconscious, 11 burned. 1 jutsu used, Kawirimi no Jutsu. Estimated time is 8 minutes and 41 seconds."

Sakura then just realized she escaped 34 Genin with the intent to kill using only 1 jutsu.

"Inuzuka Kiba...all 34 Genin knocked unconscious. 2 jutsu used, Jujin Bunshin, Gatsuga. Estimated time is 4 minutes and 13 seconds."

Akamaru let out a friendly bark. "We did it, Akamaru!" Kiba said proudly.

"Yamanaka Ino...1 Genin killed, 33 knocked unconscious. 1 jutsu used, Shintenshin no Jutsu. Estimated time is...8 minutes and 41 seconds."

Sakura and Ino looked at each other as both had one eyebrow raised in pure confusion of the coincidence.

"Uzumaki Naruto..."

Naruto jumped up into the air. How did I do, how did I do!"

"20 Genin knocked unconscious, 14 Genin killed if not critically injured. 2 jutsu used, Kage bunshin no Jutsu, Rasengan. Estimated time...9 minutes and 59 seconds."

Naruto's jaw dropped. "There's no way I could've taken that long!"

Tsunade ignored his remark. "Temari...1 Genin killed, 33 knocked unconscious. 1 jutsu used, Kamaitachi no Jutsu. Estimated time is 2 minutes and 25 seconds."

Temari grinned.

Tsunade took one quick look at the papers again and put them down on the table. "Well, good job guys. Unfortunately, some parents will not be seeing their children. But...anyway...the tournament continues. Now, when I call your name, you will say a random number in-between 1 and 14. Don't go over 14. I will call your names randomly, so be ready, and do not repeat numbers. Ready?"

Everyone nodded.

"Tenten."

"2."

"Sakura."

"10."

"Lee."

"3."

"Hinata."

"9."

"Neji."

"4."

"Gaara."

"5."

"Kankuro."

"8."

"Naruto."

"13."

"Shikamaru."

"7."

"Sasuke."

"1."

"Shino."

"6."

"Kiba."

"11."

"Temari."

"14."

"Ino."

"12."

Tsunade nodded and jotted down the numbers. "Okay...so, the tournament matches are as follows!"

Tsunade held up a large sheet of paper. Everyone came in close to view. Several eyes were widened, and Tsunade set the paper down and stood up.

"Sasuke vs. Tenten for the first fight."

Tenten raised an eyebrow at Sasuke, and Sasuke didn't even look her way.

"Lee vs. Neji for the second fight." Tsunade continued.

Neji and Lee looked at each other with straight faces.

"Gaara vs. Shino for the third fight." Tsunade said, looking at the two.

They didn't even move their mouths.

"Shikamaru vs. Kankuro for the fourth fight."

Shikamaru looked over to Kankuro. "Puppet boy...that's gonna be very troublesome..."

"Hinata vs. Sakura for the fifth fight."

Hinata stood quiet. Sakura looked over to her.

"_Doesn't she like Naruto...?"_

"Kiba vs. Ino for the sixth fight."

"Dog boy!" Ino screamed aloud.

"Who's Ino?" Kiba questioned. Akamaru barked and turned his head to the left. Kiba looked at her and simply said, "Oh."

"And Naruto vs. Temari for the seventh fight."

Naruto looked over to Temari and her 'I-don't-know-that-guy' face.

Shikamaru whispered into Naruto's ear. "Naruto, watch out. That girl can be trouble. Remember our fight in the Chuunin Exam?"

Naruto nodded slowly.

"Tsunade-sama, that's not fair!" Sakura said.

"What's not?" Tsunade questioned.

"In the seventh fight, Naruto vs. Temari, they jump straight to the semi finals! Everyone else has to go through the quarterfinals!" Sakura stated.

"With more fight, you can train yourself, and by watching their battle and not having to battle them, you can study their attacks in the time that they don't fight." Tsunade replied with a blank look on her face.

Sakura sighed and shrugged.

"Okay, you know your opponents. Now, the real tournament starts in 1 month, much like the Chuunin Exam. In 1 month your Jonin sensei will take you to the stadium. Dismissed." Tsunade said.

Everyone walked out the door as Tsunade sat back in her chair. "This'll be intense...that's for sure."


	5. Street Fight! Rasengan vs Sharingan!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I highly doubt I ever will.**

* * *

"So, you guys made it past the preliminaries, eh?" 

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all nodded as their sensei, Kakashi, questioned them. It was the day after the preliminaries were finished, and they had gone looking for Kakashi to seek training for the real tournament. They had met in the Survival Exercise grounds, where they had become Genin.

"Yeah!" Naruto replied immediately. "I'm fighting some girl named Temari. If I beat her I jump straight to the semi finals!"

"Don't be so glad about that Naruto," Kakashi replied. "Just like Tsunade said, enemies have more time to study you since you won't be fighting."

"Yeah, whatever, I'll just beat them up!" Naruto replied with a broad grin on his face.

"Kakashi-sensei, what do we do in the down time before the tournament?" Sakura questioned.

"Train, basically. I'm sure you guys want that one million ryo," Kakashi stated.

"With that much money, I can buy my own ramen for over 3 years!" Naruto said in excitement, thrusting himself into the air.

"You're going to use one million ryo on ramen?" Sakura said with a 'That's-stupid' face.

"Kakashi-sensei..." Sasuke suddenly said aloud, which surprised all three of them, seeing as how he had been so quiet.

"Yes, Sasuke?" Kakashi said, wondering what in the world the quiet Uchiha would want.

"Well, we got in trouble the last time we had a fight unsupervised...so, can you supervise a fight between me and Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto's head perked up. Sasuke asking to fight him? This was odd. Usually he was the one to ask for the fight, even though he had to admit he didn't usually ask, he just jumped into it.

"Are you sure you want to fight me?" Naruto said with a cocky grin on his face. "I would of—"

"Stop right there," Sasuke suddenly said, interrupting. "This match is too see who would've really won, since Tsunade won't be able to stop us."

Naruto looked at Sasuke and his smirk, and then had a small burst of anger. "Well, no duh I'm gonna say yes to that challenge!"

Kakashi had spawned a hidden smile behind his mask. "Well, this'll be fun...where do you guys feel like fighting?"

Before Sasuke could recommend anything, there was a large grumbling noise. Everyone looked over to Naruto, who was looking down at his stomach. He put his head up and shifted sights from all three of them. "What? I haven't had anything to eat since that ramen before the preliminaries yesterday...oh, my stomach..."

"Let him eat. Then we'll hold the battle in front Ichiraku Ramen," Sasuke suggested.

Sakura stepped in front of Naruto and came face to face with Sasuke and Kakashi. "You can't literally do that! You might end up killing someone, or maybe even breaking the restaurant!"

"Feh!" Naruto said, jumping in front of Sakura. "If that does happen, I can buy them a fancier restaurant when I win all that ryo!"

Kakashi sighed and shook his head. "Let's just get over there and get Naruto some food. Then you can have your fight."

Naruto jumped up into the air in excitement as they walked over to the restaurant.

"Finish up, Naruto," Sasuke said with a sigh. "Or else I'll call off the—"

"Fight?" Naruto said, turning his head to Sasuke and slurping up the last bit. He jumped up and threw the ryo to the owner. Sasuke stood to the left of the restaurant and Naruto to the right. Sakura and Kakashi were sitting on the stools of the restaurant. Kakashi yawned and looked at a clock. "Go."

"_KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" _Naruto said instantly. In a flash 15 clones appeared around himself and Sasuke. They all dashed toward him, and Sasuke simply sighed. "I'm getting sick of hearing those words, Naruto..." Sasuke activated his Sharingan and quickly jumped into the air, forming seals very quickly, so quick that Naruto couldn't efficiently realize them. All the Narutos stood below Sasuke, ready for any evasive maneuver.

"_SHISHI RENDAN!"_

All off the Narutos were instantly confused. Suddenly, the real Naruto received a kick to the chin. He was shot upward; Sasuke following him. Sasuke fixed his body under Naruto's and threw a kick to left. Naruto realized that the seals were to confuse him. He also saw that the Sasuke in the air disappear; it was clone! This wouldn't stop him though. Naruto smirked and quickly grabbed the leg. Naruto then threw Sasuke to the ground. Sasuke collided with the clones and made them all disappear. Naruto landed and made one clone. Sasuke got up and saw a ball of spinning chakra forming in Naruto's hand. Naruto smirked as the clone continued to form it.

"I'm not letting that happen!"

Sasuke dashed for the clone that was on Naruto's left side and punched it in the face, making it disappear. Sasuke expected the Rasengan forming to shatter and disappear. But it didn't. Naruto quickly thrusted his hand into Sasuke's stomach, which sent him flying backward at least 30 feet, crashing into a wooden fence.

"That's enough," Kakashi said, appearing in front of Naruto. Sasuke got on his knees and coughed up a little blood, then got up to his feet.

"I don't get it...that Rasengan should've shattered without the help of the clone..." Sasuke said slowly.

"Hah!" Naruto said with a big grin yet again. "I knew you wouldn't let me do that attack, so I made the clone stay a little bit longer, to make it seem like the sphere was still being built, even though it had long been ready! So, knowing that you would come up to its face and make it vanish, I used that opportunity to hit you! Pretty smart, right?"

Kakashi looked in Naruto's eyes and sighed. "Well, not entirely..."

Naruto's grin went to a frown. "What do you mean by that! I totally fooled him!"

Kakashi threw another sigh, which became a common thing when standing anywhere near Naruto. "Any high level ninja would use the Kawirimi no Jutsu as an emergency jutsu. After that, they could easily appear behind you and strike, making you simply waste chakra."

"Yeah, but Sasuke didn't see it coming!" Naruto said, gaining the grin.

"_That's the weird thing..." _Kakashi thought to himself. _"He had his Sharingan activated, so he should've seen that coming."_

Kakashi looked over Sasuke, who was still panting heavily. A Rasengan did hurt; especially in the stomach.

"Sasuke," Kakashi called.

Sasuke looked up and walked over to him.

"All of you go home and get some rest," Kakashi said. All of them began to walk away, but Kakashi quickly said, "Wait, Sasuke, before you go, I need to tell you something."

Sasuke walked back and crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow.

"Why didn't you see that com—"

"I deactivated my Sharingan when I hit the clone, since I thought I was in for a surefire win. Shouldn't have let my guard down." Sasuke interrupted, knowing what his sensei was gonna ask him.

"Well, just know this; If Naruto was smart enough to do this, just think how it would be with Neji or Shikamaru," Kakashi replied.

Sasuke nodded and walked off, still holding a hand in his stomach. Kakashi thought about the Extreme Shinobi Challenge; if a street fight was this intense, than the real tournament would be insane.

* * *

_Okay guys, I just wanna clear up some things:_

_1. Okay, so Tsunade is the Hokage, so you may be thinking: "What's Sasuke doing in Konoha?"_

_Sasuke officially leaves after the Tea Country Race Arc, which is a filler arc from the anime. I'm doing some stuff from the anime and some stuff from the manga, but I'm using the timeline from the anime. Tsunade is the Hokage before the Tea Country Race Arc, and Sasuke is still in Konoha before the Tea Country Race Arc, so it fits. :D_

_2. About the thing in the last chapter when everyone gasped about Gaara; they gasped because he didn't kill every body. Remember, this is after the Naruto vs. Gaara fight in the Invasion of Konoha arc, so Gaara isn't really all that insane and he doesn't want to kill people like mad anymore. Also, this is when he's wearing those cool clothes._

_3. I have made a tournament chart to better understand. Every time someone wins a fight, I'll update it. This should also help you understand the Temari or Naruto jumping to the Semi finals thing, since there are Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Finals. Here's the link (hopefully it works, and if it does, let it load; it's pretty big): __http/img123.imageshack.us/img123/6370/extremeshinobichallengetournamentcharthg9.jpg_

_4. Also, sorry for the somewhat short chapter. When I wrote this, I felt a bit sleepy, explaining the shortness and the lack of action (even though it's not really lacking action, since Kakashi meant to stop the fight. Think about it, wouldn't it be kind of hard to continue the fight after getting hit with a powerful ball of rotating chakra in the gut?). I'm gonna try my best to make chapters long and action filled from now on (unless it's an information chapter, like chapter 4). Okay, sorry for taking so long on "clearing up some things."_


	6. Before the Tournament: Downtime

"Hey, Hinata."

A shy girl's face turned over to her teammate and his dog. She held her fingers close to each other. "Y-Yes...K-Kiba...?"

"Do you really want to win this tournament...?"

The girl slowly nodded her head, even though she wasn't exactly one hundred percent sure. She wanted to prove that she was strong to almost everyone. But she didn't think she could really do if she had to get past the one she adored, the blonde haired boy that defied all laws if he wanted too. Naruto...how could she possibly fight him? Every time she got within 5 feet of him she trembled with shyness.

"Do you?"

Hinata jumped at the sudden call from Kiba. She had been gone into her own universe thinking about him again. She thought about it thoroughly and slowly replied. "Y-Yeah..."

"Then you're gonna have to release all your strength. Don't hold back in these battles, because no one else will."

Hinata lowered her head at the thought of this. Kiba was entirely right. If she held back, she would get defeated easily since no body else would be doing the same. She was just hoping that she wouldn't seriously hurt anyone...especially Naruto.

"And your first match...against that Sakura girl..." Kiba looked over to Hinata as she turned her head to him. "She's smart. She may not be extremely strong, but she can be tough. Just follow my word of advice. Don't hold back no matter what. Even against Naruto."

Kiba began to walk home. Hinata leaned against a wall and began thinking. What if she did end up beating Sakura? And then...what if she ended up getting past Ino or Kiba? And what if Naruto overpowered Temari and the both of them ended up fighting? Hinata began to walk back to the Hyuuga Compound, in utter confusion of what might end up happening.

A girl held her fan in hand and sat on a roof in Konoha. The sun was setting, and she began thinking about the tournament. What she could buy with all that ryo...it would really be astonishing. She then began to think about her foe.

"Uzumaki Naruto..."

She had seen the fight between him and Neji. He was able to outsmart the so called Hyuuga genius. She would have to dispose of him quickly before anything got to crazy. She then began to think about what would happen to her in the later matches. Kankuro wouldn't be much of a problem. But if she had to fight Gaara...she would have to quit. Even being as strong as she is, she wouldn't be able to defeat him. So, the only real thing that she had to worry about was Gaara.

"So, you're telling me that...you're gonna make a revision to your Uzumaki Naruto Combo?"

"Yeah!"

"How in the world do you plan on doing that?"

"Well, instead of bringing them back down to the floor with a kick to the face, I'm gonna do it with a Rasengan to the stomach!"

"Something now tells me I should have not taught you that technique..."

An old hermit sat on a stool in a ramen bar next to a blonde haired boy. The old hermit had long white hair and was one of the legendary Sannin. The blonde that sat next to him was Naruto Uzumaki, a very eager boy participating in the tournament. They were inside Ichiraku Ramen, eating the usual dinner of ramen.

"So, Perverted Hermit, are you and Old Lady Hokage gonna watch the fights?" Naruto asked after a big slurp.

Jiraiya pushed his empty ramen bowl forward after taking his last bite. "Everyone's gonna be there. Me, Tsunade, feudal lords, all the Jonin and Chuunin from the other villages...anyone you can think of." He turned to Naruto with a big smirk on his face. "Tsunade's gonna be sitting on a large chair, and on the right of the chair is a pedestal with a large golden trophy holding the one million ryo. She's sworn to kill anyone who tries to steal it."

Naruto had a large chunk of ramen noodles in his mouth the whole time the hermit was saying this. He slowly swallowed it all and had a look of amazement on his face.

Jiraiya grew another smirk on his face. "Amazing, ain't it?"

"Uhm...yeah, it's amazing and all...but...can I have a second bowl?" Naruto said in a low voice.

"Sorry, kid, but I think that's enough for you."

Naruto smirked and performed a hand seal. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow and suddenly experienced a quick nosebleed as Naruto pulled out his Oiroke no Jutsu. Now in front of Jiraiya was a beautiful woman.

"May I please have a second bowl?" Naruto's secret girl form said, with a small giggle.

"Only if you stay like that while you eat it!" Jiraiya said with an anxious look on his face. But to his disappointment, the girl quickly disappeared and Naruto returned with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Screw it, I'm going home."

Jiraiya grew a big frown as Naruto jumped up from his stool and walked off mumbling some words better left unsaid.

It was now evening in Konoha. Almost every light was out, most shops were closed, and no one was out on the streets. Tsunade looked out to the city from her office window. There was only a short time left until the tournament, approximately a week. Everything was all ready set up, and the audience was already notified. Just a week until what she had been waiting for. A little spice in Konoha. Things had been dull since Orochimaru's attack and because of that event there so much paper work to fill out. Tsunade had just finished doing the whole week's paperwork in just one quick day, from dawn to evening.

"Should be fun..."


	7. The First Fight: Sasuke vs Tenten

_Hey guys, sorry about not giving you new chapters and stuff. School just started last month, and I've gotten hit with school work, class work, home work, and even project work. Here's a nice chapter for you (I know, it's a little short, but I meant for this fight to be short. Don't worry, the Neji-Rock Lee fight next chapter will be reallllllly long) with Sasuke against Tenten. Chapter 8 will be up late tomorrow, like around 8 or 9 pm Eastern Daylight Time in the USA. So yeah._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything even related to it. My life story._

* * *

"SASUKE! SAKURA! KAKASHI-SENSEI! HURRY UP! WE'LL MISS THE OPENING OF THE TOURNAMENT!"

"...You don't even know where the stadium is..."

A boy in an orange jumpsuit, our beloved Naruto, glared toward his long time rival, Uchiha Sasuke. It was the day of the Extreme Shinobi Challenge, a tournament that Tsunade, the fifth Hokage, had created to have some fun and see who the strongest Genin in the world really was. It was held in Konohagakure. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and their Jonin sensei Kakashi were walking down a forest trail leading to the stadium. The Genin had no idea where the tournament was to be held, but Kakashi did. It was meant to be kept a secret until the day of the tournament.

"Kakashi, where's the stage anyway...?" The pink haired kunoichi questioned.

"Just a few more minutes of walking...don't worry," Kakashi said with a small smile.

_**20 MINUTES LATER**_

"Are we almost there, sensei?" Naruto asked with a big smile on his face.

"A little bit more."

_**45 MINUTES AFTER THAT...**_

"Are we there yet...?" Sasuke questioned lowly.

"Yup," replied Kakashi.

"REALLY!" Naruto exclaimed with a big jump into the air.

"Nope," replied Kakashi once more, not even lifting his eye from his Icha Icha Paradise book.

Naruto and Sasuke sighed and put their heads down as they kept walking, while Sakura just threw a small laugh.

_**90 MINUTES AFTER THAT...**_

"Here we are!" Kakashi said aloud.

"Don't even joke around, sensei...' Naruto said in a low voice, annoyed by the previous jokes Kakashi had pulled on him. All of a sudden Naruto felt Kakashi's hand on the back of his head. Kakashi thrusted Naruto's head upwards, along with Sasuke's. They were at the end of the forest path, and in front of them stood a wasteland as far as the eye – hell, even the Byakugan – could see. There were a few trees here and there and a couple of pillars of earth that stood about 20 feet tall scattered around the area. Then Naruto spotted a large set of seats much like the Chunin Exam stadium, but these seats sat on 20 foot tall man-made walls of Earth. About one thousand people could fit into all the seats and in the center of those seats was a large chair with the symbol of fire on it. Naruto then finally noticed that Tsunade was actually sitting there, and then by squinting he saw that the seats weren't empty. All of them were filled with other ninjas the came to watch the battles, feudal lords and rich people that came to make bets, and all the Chunin and Anbu members watching the fights.

"_Anbu...they probably still don't trust the sound village one hundred percent just yet..." _Naruto thought to himself quietly.

"Let's go!" Sakura said aloud, pulling Naruto out from space. They all nodded and walked toward the field. Many people in the seats saw them enter and sighed.

"Kakashi and his habit of being late attached itself to his Genin soldiers..."

"He needs to come earlier..."

Now Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were standing below the man-made walls of earth that the audience sat upon. At the bottom of the walls the other contestants were waiting. Naruto saw everyone there, and some of them even waved back. Shikamaru, Ino, Hinata, Neji, Rock Lee, Tenten, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Kiba, and Shino. They were all there waiting for them. Asuma, Kurenai, and Gai also stood there. The Jonin sensei, Baki, of the Sunagakure team of Genin was sitting in the seats above, not to be bothered with communication. Now that everyone was here, Tsunade slowly stood up. As everyone saw her stand, they quickly shut their mouths, knowing the important part was about to come.

"Everyone, I would like to thank you come for coming to the Extreme Shinobi Challenge!" Tsunade exclaimed at the top of her lungs. She took a small pause and resumed. "Today we will have the beginning of the tournaments. I will not say any more than this for today. What I will say is what most of you know, but the grand prize winner of this challenge will receive one million ryo, directly from me." Tsunade lifted her hand and out came Mitarashi Anko carrying a glass suitcase. The ryo insane was viewable, and most people gasped. Naruto jumped up and screamed, "THAT'S MY MONEY RIGHT THERE!" Shikamaru sighed and punched him in the side of the face. Hinata lowered her head at the fact that he had to receive the hit.

"Back to the point..." Tsunade resumed. "The first match is about to begin. Sasuke and Tenten, please move to the center where Genma is standing. Sasuke looked over to Tenten and Tenten looked back to him. They both knew they were formidable opponents for each other. They slowly walked to the center where Genma was standing. Genma had been the one to watch over the fights in the finals of the Chunin Exam before the attack on Konohagakure took place. Sasuke and Tenten looked over to Genma while the crowd silenced.

Genma nodded his head which nibbling on his toothpick. "Right...the rules...look down at your feet right now."

Sasuke and Tenten looked down between them. There was a small white target on the floor.

"This will be the center of the battle field. If you go farther than 10 kilometers in any direction from this target, you will be disqualified. I will be watching over the fight. If I decide to stop the fight, you will stop the fight. If I say you're disqualified, I will tell you why and you will leave with no arguments at all. You will lose if you give up, die, or if I say so myself. Are we clear on that?"

Sasuke and Tenten nodded slowly, and then focused on each other, backing away slowly.

"Fight 1, Uchiha Sasuke versus Tenten," Genma said. "You can begin."

Tenten backed away a couple of feet. Gai smiled at this, knowing this was her fighting distance that allowed her to fight and defend at the same time. The Uchiha stood still with his eyes closed while Tenten thought of what to do. Sasuke slowly pulled his hand up above him with the seal of the tiger. Tenten quickly jumped back as Sasuke released the technique. _"KATON: HOUSENKA NO JUTSU!" _10 fireballs quickly leaped out of Sasuke's mouth and all headed toward Tenten. Tenten ran in circles around Sasuke easily dodging the fireballs, and she quickly slid to a stop and pulled out a single scroll. Sasuke stood still and observed what was happening.

"_This...I saw this during the Chunin Exam preliminaries..." _Sasuke closed his eyes as Tenten got the attack ready, and when he re-opened them he had his Sharingan eyes activated. Tenten threw the scroll up into the air in a single helix formation and jumped up through the spiral formation the scroll was making spinning around. Placing her palms on the insides symbols of the scrolls, she summoned a variety of weapons and threw them toward Sasuke. As the weapons came hurdling toward Sasuke, in swift movements he grabbed them all and threw them back toward Tenten and her scrolls. Tenten had her eyes closed while summoning the weapons, and upon contact with the first kunai to stab her in the shoulder, the scroll fell down and Tenten collapsed onto the ground with a hard thud. She slowly stood up and carefully removed the impaled kunai all over her body, which was mostly her legs and arms, nothing in the torso. Sasuke stood still and waited for her to get up.

"You can't just use such a stupid technique and expect for it work on me," Sasuke said lowly. He turned around and saw the shuriken and kunai that had missed him sitting on the ground. Tenten smiled and slowly raised her hands up into the air, and then the shuriken and the kunai lifted into the air. Before Sasuke could even question anything, Tenten yanked her hands backward, sending the weapons attached to the strings that were attached to her toward Sasuke. In a split second all the weapons were back in front of her lap, and Sasuke suddenly had cuts all over his body. Blood slowly dropped to the floor and Tenten stood up and wiped off blood from her face. Now she was hearing an odd noise...it sounded like birds...over a thousand of them. Sasuke turned around and had his hand was curled into a fist that was covered with lightning chakra. There was a flash of white and then only a shadow dashing toward another could be seen. After everything vanished, the final image came up. Sasuke stood breathing heavily in the center of the area with his arm outstretched and his hand still in a fist. In the middle of his hand an impaled kunai was visible. Tenten had gotten sent flying backward into a small rock wall formation about 1 kilometer off to the west. Genma slowly stepped forward and coughed a bit. "Right then...Uchiha Sasuke advances to the quarter finals."

Sasuke lowered his arm and then collapsed onto the ground. He had seemed alright, even though a kunai was stuck in his fist. Just when Sakura was going to go congratulate him, he suddenly collapsed on the floor. Sakura and Ino ran out from the cave to him, but Kakashi and Asuma stopped them.

"What...what happened to Sasuke!" Sakura asked aloud.

"Tenten had launched a kunai into his fist before the punch hit her..." Kakashi slowly stated. "Since Sasuke's hand was completely engulfed lightning chakra, the kunai became engulfed in lightning chakra. Since the kunai impaled him, the lightning chakra that was on his fist transferred to the kunai. Then the kunai transferred the lightning chakra from itself to Sasuke's inner chakra circulatory systems. That basically sent lightning chakra throughout his whole body, attacking everything inside of it, even the organs, because remember, your inner organs are tied together through the inner chakra circulatory system. Chidori does have enough lightning chakra to kill you if every bit of the lightning chakra went inside of you, but luckily only a little bit of it went to the kunai. He's gonna be in the hospital for a couple of days."

Sakura and Ino slowly looked over to Sasuke as the medical ninja picked him up and left with him. Then more medic-nin went over to Tenten and took her to the hospital.

"Gai-sensei...will Tenten be alright?" Lee questioned.

"Yeah, she'll be alright," Gai stated. "What she did was just an attempt to knock Sasuke unconscious, which she did do. The problem was that Sasuke's Chidori usually knocks a person out if they get hit hard enough, and Tenten really got hit hard." Gai looked over to Kakashi. "You're lucky you taught him that technique, Kakashi. Tenten would've won easily if it wasn't for that Chidori."

Kakashi looked up from his Icha Icha Paradise Book. "Did you say something, Gai?"

Gai turned around and held his fist in the air. _"You've out done yourself with your coolness once again, Kakashi! Just you wait!"_

After everyone hushed, Tsunade stood up again. "The first fight is over. Let the second begin. Hyuga Neji and Rock Lee, move to the center of the field."

They both walked over to the center, eyes derived from each other. Genma sighed and stated, "Do I need to re-explain the rules?"

Both Neji and Lee shook their heads.

"Good. You can start now."

A colossal fight was about to take place. A natural born genius up against a genius of hard work!


	8. Natural Genius vs A Genius of Hard Work

_Hello again, my friends. I'm sorry about the whole not-giving-you-the-new-chapter-when-I-told-you-I-would thing. I started writing it, and then my friend slept over, leaving no time to write. Then I had school and homework, so I wrote a little bit every day. But here it is: Neji vs. Lee. I was really waiting to write this fight. I had a lot of fun with it and I think everyone will like it. Seeing as how Monday there's no school, I'll try my best to get Chapter 9 with the Gaara-Shino fight up by this weekend. I'm probably gonna need some time to think as to how the battle will go, so it should be a good chapter. Also, I made up that move for Neji, the "Kaiten Bakushin". I read in an translator that Bakushin means dash, so I used that. If anyone could find a better word for dash I would really appreciate it. I would also seriously appreciate it if someone could tell me whether it should be "Kaiten Bakushin" or "Bakushin Kaiten" because I was wondering about that. Okay, I'll stop blabbering for now so you can read this chapter._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I guess you could technically say I own the Kaiten Bakushin._

* * *

"Lee...I'm not going to tell you to give up...but I'm also telling you that I will not hold back." 

"Same for you...Neji."

The crowd hushed down and waited for the fight to start. Genma saw a nod of Tsunade's head, and he sighed and took a step back.

"The second match...Neji versus Rock Lee...begin."

Neji's activated his Byakugan almost instantly, and waited for Lee to make the first strike. _"I guess I can consider myself lucky..." _Neji thought to himself quickly as Lee charged toward him. _"In that match against Gaara, he had already used the gates once, so I'm guessing he won't be using them again." _Lee jumped forward with an air kick heading straight for Neji's head. Neji quickly kicked Lee's leg with his own, causing Lee to fall to his feet quickly. In a split second within landing on the ground, Lee squatted down and grabbed Neji's leg. In one swell movement, Lee rose back up to full height and tossed Neji head-first toward one of the many pillars scattered through out the area. In mid-air, Neji gathered up his chakra and began to spin like a top. Suddenly a force field of chakra appeared around him. This chakra destroyed the rock pillar and then Neji quickly dispensed the force field, colliding with the ground on his shoulder. Neji slowly stood up, wiping a little bit of blood on his face.

"_I'm not gonna get anywhere with my weights..." _Lee turned backward and began to run up one of the rocky pillars. This was a bit difficult seeing as how Lee couldn't use ninjutsu and the wall climbing jutsu was categorized under that. He reached the top and looked toward Gai-sensei, who was leaning against the man-made walls of earth. Gai-sensei smiled and nodded. Lee kneeled down and took off the orange covering of his legs. Now the weights that read "Guts" were viewable. The previous contestants of the Chunin Exam knew what was coming. Gaara showed a small smile, knowing what true skill Lee had. Lee removed the weights and dropped them toward the ground. When they hit the ground, there was a large explosion of smoke and debris. Lee quickly re-equipped the orange coverings and leaped forward off from the pillar. He was heading toward Neji with his flying kick ready. Neji threw an uppercut punch toward Lee's chin. Lee went flying upward and crash landed in front of Neji. Lee quickly got up breathing heavily. Neji closed his eyes and made a certain stance.

" Hakke Rokujūyon Shō!"

Neji dashed toward Lee, ready to press all of his chakra points out of service. Then the unthinkable happened. The thing that Neji thought no one would ever even try to accomplish.

Lee stood still as Neji approached him...

...and he threw a punch straight into Neji's nose without even lifting his head.

Everyone watching the battle had pure disbelief in this. They had seen what had happened with Neji and Naruto. Usually when Neji performed his sixty four palm technique, the enemy was usually stunned with fear as to what would happen next. But Lee...Rock Lee had literally stopped the attack before it even started. Neji went sliding backwards crashing into one of the few trees in the area. Blood quickly flushed out of Neji's nose, which was now broken. Neji stood up and faced Lee, who had turned around to face Neji. Suddenly, Lee had quickly disappeared and re-appeared under Neji's chin. Lee thrusted his leg upward colliding with Neji's chin, sending him flying upward. Lee quickly jumped up over Neji who was still in the air, ready with a punch to the face.

"_KAITEN!"_

Neji spun around quickly like a top again and Rock Lee's hand hit the chakra so hard that his hand went flying back. Lee and Neji then both fell to the ground at the same time.

"Lee's gonna kill himself if he keeps fighting like this...he's using up so much chakra, and he can't open any of the gates because of the Chunin Exam..." Sakura said in a low voice.

"Don't worry Sakura...it's still anybody's game..." Kakashi said with a small yawn.

"I guess I should reveal my new attack...I've been training on it for a while," Neji said calmly. He wiped some blood off of his mouth and took the stance of his Kaiten. He suddenly began to spin like a top as usual. Then he began to move toward Lee very slowly...while still spinning.

"_KAITEN BAKUSHIN!"_

Suddenly Neji dashed toward Lee while still spinning. The force field collided with Rock Lee and sent him flying backward into a pillar. Neji kept moving though. The force field kept spinning as he moved.

"He learned how to move with his chakra at that speed!" Naruto and Sakura both yelled aloud. Kakashi even raised an eyebrow at this; Neji was excellent at controlling chakra, much better than Sakura. To move while forcing all that chakra from all over your body was impossible for Kakashi. It was hard enough for him to get chakra out of certain parts of the body like his finger tips.

"Well, Gai, that must've taken a while to teach him," Kakashi stated.

"I didn't teach him that," Gai said quietly. "Every day after we did our missions in the month before this tournament, all of us went home except for Neji. He stayed outside in Konoha for an extra 3 hours, saying that he was 'perfecting a new technique.' I guess this was it..."

Rock Lee breathed heavily while leaning against the pillar, and his eyes widened as he saw Neji coming once more. Neji pounded through Rock Lee and the pillar, making it fall down to the ground, causing a huge rise up of smoke. The smoke flew every where and everyone was temporarily blinded. Suddenly, Lee flew forward out of the smoke and crashed into the man made walls that the others were leaning against. The smoke finally cleared and Neji was seen standing breathing heavily. All around the battling field were deep marks in the ground as if a boulder had rolled through. Everyone backed away from Lee, knowing that if they even put a finger on him he would be disqualified for interference. Lee slowly stood up and looked toward Neji. Both of them were beat up pretty bad, but they didn't give in.

"Lee...I am going to finish this now...you put up a good fight..." Neji said slowly. Suddenly, Neji's hand began to emit an aura of chakra. This was the Juken. Neji was going to halt the chakra of Lee. Lee slowly shook he head as he coughed up a little blood.

"Neji...this is...far from over...I will be victorious!" Lee screamed at the top of his lungs.

Neji looked deep into Rock Lee's eyes. They were full of determination to win. They were full of the wish to prove that a genius of hard work could defeat a natural born genius. Lee charged forward toward Neji, roaring for a massive attack. Neji stood still and waited for him to approach.

"_KONOHA DAISENPU!"_

Lee leaped forward and performed a spinning double kick, with his left leg higher than the other. Neji tapped both of the legs extremely hard with his index finger and his middle finger at the same exact time. A scream of agony came from Lee as he fell down with a thud as his attack was halted. He could feel no chakra in his legs. Neji jumped backwards as Lee stood up again. It was tough to move his legs. Neji slowly walked toward Lee. Lee, without the ability to even walk forward or backward, threw a punch toward Neji's head. Neji stopped it with his hand and poked his right arm, the arm the punch was thrown with, with his 2 fingers in the same manner of his legs. Lee's arm quickly fell back in place as Lee threw a punch with his left arm. Neji did not stop this one; he moved his head to the right and quickly poked it again with his 2 fingers and it fell into place again.

"Lee...give up...this is..." Neji said slowly, his voice caught with a little bit of sorrow.

"Do not say this is pointless, Neji...because...I will prove...my ninja way!" Lee said out loud. Neji slowly lifted his head and stared straight into his eye. "My ninja way...I will never give up on that! Not in a million years!"

Suddenly, Lee thrusted his head toward Neji's head in one quick movement. With that unexpected head bump, both Lee and Neji fell down. They were down for about 5 seconds, and then Neji slowly stood up and was followed by Lee. Neji lowered his eye lids and gave a sigh full of sadness.

"Lee...forgive me for this, but I want to end this now before I accidentally end up killing you."

Neji's left hand suddenly emitted an enormous amount of chakra. Neji pushed his hand onto Rock Lee's chest and Lee went flying back crashing into a pillar.

"Lee!" Sakura yelled out loud, a tone of worry.

"Don't worry," Gai replied. "Neji just temporarily stopped his heart flow. He'll be unconscious for a few hours. If Neji didn't knock him out, he would've kept fighting. That kid...he has determination."

"Examiner. I have won. Now if you don't mind, I need to take my friend to the hospital."

Genma slowly nodded. _"That's a good kid right there...Naruto changed him...good job Naruto..." _

"The winner of the second match is Hyuga Neji. He advances."

Neji walked over to Lee and placed him on his shoulders. Medic-nin came and offered to carry him to the hospital, but Neji simply shook his head. Gai slowly walked behind Neji, and everyone saw them vanish into the trees of the forest path that led back to Konohagakure.

Neji looked up at the sun with a small smile. _"Rock Lee...you are truly a splendid Leaf-nin. One day you will be recognized. You will be recognized as the hero of pure strength and determination."_

The audience hushed once more as Tsunade stood up again. "Hyuga Neji advances. The third match is now in place. If Sabaku no Gaara and Aburame Shino could please move to the center of the area." She said with a distinct voice.

Everyone looked at Gaara as he turned into sand and reappeared in the center. Shino calmly walked to the opposite side of Gaara.

"Alright. Third fight, Gaara versus Shino. You can begin."


	9. Third Fight: Sand vs Bugs

**_Aye, sorry guys and gals. My last update was interestingly on my sister's birthday, and it seems I said I would try my best to get it up that Monday. But something came and steered me off path. A Science Fair Project. It's due Monday, and I still have to work on it, so don't expect another chapter until sometime next week. Also, I'm going to stop saying "I'm gonna update insert day of week here" because whenever I do, I end up not doing it, and I'm afraid people are gonna start hating me for fibbing. Yeah, ok, I'mma shut up now._**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I guess I do own that new move I made for Shino when he gets surronded in bugs, unless that happens in the book or anime (cause I don't remember). If he does use a technique similar to that, then of well, it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto then.  
_**

* * *

"If Sabaku no Gaara and Aburame Shino would walk up to the center sometime today, that'd be great." 

Shino slowly walked up to the left side of the circle. Gaara blinked and slowly began moving his gourd around. He slowly took it off his back and dropped it on the ground in front of Temari. He then began to walk forward toward Shino. Everyone looked as Gaara walked forward and then they shifted sights to his gourd on the ground.

"Gaara...don't you need this to fight?" Temari asked.

"I've seen this guy fight before," Gaara stated as he turned around, stopping his walk halfway. "Not only can I control the sand in the ground and in the air, but if I used the gourd he would easily clog it with his bugs. It was a precaution I took. I started training with out the gourd. Hopefully it works."

"But...the Shield of Sand!" Kankuro said lowly.

"The Shield of Sand used sand from the gourd. Now it's just going to use sand from the ground and air. The Armor of Sand is the same deal."

Gaara turned back around and kept walking toward the center. This was odd; this would probably be the only time in Gaara's life that he would fight without his gourd.

Now in the center, Gaara faced Shino. Genma sighed and took a slow deep breath. "The third fight, Sabaku no Gaara versus Aburame Shino, can now begin."

Sand started to fly around Gaara, in a small whip shape. A swarm of bugs came out of Shino's coat and surrounded him as well. Suddenly the both jumped backwards as their weapons collided, demolishing each other. Now it was clear to both of them that if their weapons collided, no one would win. Gaara slowly began to focus his chakra and a large wall of sand appeared in front of him. Suddenly, the wall began to fall, and a form of sand could be seen. The sand had now finished its fall, and a sand clone of Gaara could be seen. For a second, the clone simply stood there. In a quick flash, it extended its arm all the way to Shino ready to fist him in the face. A large swarm of bugs quickly formed in front of Shino's face, blocking the attack. Then another swarm of bugs, bigger than before, appeared behind Shino, and flew toward Gaara. They flew over the clone of Gaara and went right toward the real Gaara's face, with their usual intent to drain him of his chakra. The bugs quickly crashed into some sand that appeared in front of Gaara, and they slowly fell to the ground. The Shield of Sand fell back down as the two fighters faced each other. This seemed like an equal fight. Silently, Shino sent a swarm of his Kikaichu bugs along the floor as Gaara stared in his face. The bug's started crawling up Gaara's legs, and he remained still. The bugs began to feed off of Gaara, and after around a minute or so, Gaara fell on the ground, eyes still open. Shino walked over to the body and looked down. Suddenly, Gaara's face had several cracks in it, and it fell to pieces. Shino slowly turned around only to receive a slamming fist to his face from Gaara's own fist. Gaara didn't stop his attacks there, though. After the punch, Shino was sent back a few feet, and Gaara pulled up a wall of sand and around six large sand fists erupted from this sand wall to strike more hits on Shino. Shino slid back another couple of feet after this barrage with bruises all over his face. Shino quickly brought up his hands and performed a hand seal combination of Ox, Hare, Tiger, Dog, and Dragon. His whole body quickly became surrounded by his little bugs. Shino then dashed toward Gaara, ready with a punch to his own face. Shino surely knew that the Sand of Shield would stop this simple punch, but his bugs could then quickly travel through the sand suck that chakra right out from his face. As Shino threw his fist forward, a small little shield of sand appeared in-between Gaara's face and Shino's punch, blocking off the attack. Shino quickly sent his bugs the command to get the chakra out from Gaara's face. The bugs surrounding Shino's other fist quickly detached and seeped through the sand and unexpectedly tackled Gaara's face. Gaara jumped back as the bugs began to devour his chakra. Gaara quickly made the hand seal of the Tiger and he suddenly disappeared underground. As he did so, Shino dispersed the bugs from his body and they quickly vanished. That was the wrong move for Shino, though, because Gaara suddenly reappeared behind him in his normal form and threw a blasting fist to the rear part of his head. Shino was sent forward, headed for the ground, but as he dove for the ground, he used his hands and twirled himself around on his fingers, performing a backflip and landing back on his feet, facing Gaara. Gaara suddenly turned into sand once more and reappeared on top of a rocky pillar a few meters away from Shino. Gaara extended his arm toward Shino and separated his fingers.

_"Ryūsa Bakuryū!"_

An extremely large wall of sand could be seen forming behind Gaara. The wall grew larger and larger, taller and taller, until it was at least around half a mile into the air and around half a mile wide. The stands where the people were standing were on the side of it, so they were not to be hurt. The other contestants and all of the Jonin sensei went up to the stands for the small contestant's cavern was sure to be flowed with sand. Gaara was about to release his wave of lethal sand, and Shino was sure to drown in it. Shino had to think fast. Getting on a pillar wouldn't work since the sand was sure to hit that, and neither would going underground (which Shino had just learned to do before the tournament with the help of his bugs) because he wouldn't be able to get back up. He could only do one thing, and he wasn't even sure if it would work. He began to run toward the 100-foot-tall wall of earth the stands were sitting on. Upon seeing this attempt to flee, Gaara quickly released the wave of sand and it came crashing down to the earth, heading toward Shino quickly. Shino sped up his dash and began to traverse the wall upwards with his chakra. The sand would still be above him by the time it reached him, though. Sacrificing even more chakra, he broke out into an all-speed dash toward the wall. The sand was still going to end up above him, and while running, he noticed he was adjacent with an earth pillar that sat in front of the stands. When Shino was face to face with the audience and spectators, he quickly did a backflip and attached his feet to the pillar, and then from there he leaped off the side of the pillar onto the roof of the stands, watching the wave just barely miss his toe as he landed. Shino looked down on the roof which he was standing and saw some grains of sand. In a quick infuriating-like rage, those small grains of sand flew up into the air and combined with a long pillar of sand that flew up from the ground to face Shino. The sand quickly spiraled around Shino like a snake, and that sand quickly called more sand to help entrap the young ninja. In a matter of seconds so much sand was gathering around Shino that only his face could be seen. Gaara silently coughed and then spoke up.

"Surrender."

Shino began to struggle a little and the bond of the sand became tighter. Shino then had a flashback of the second stage of the Chunin Exams, when he, Kiba, and Hinata were watching that fight between Gaara's team and the team from the Hidden Grass. Gaara took care of the leader of that team like nothing with this attack that Shino was bounded by at the moment. He then remembered what Gaara did after that: his Sabaku Sōsō, which instantly annihilated the young grass-nin. Shino had no choice but to give up. He did value his life. Gaara made a small hole in the entrapment of sand that Shino was caught in and Shino put his right arm through it, and he held it in the air for a small period of time, stating that he had given up. Upon seeing this, Gaara released the sand holding Shino. Shino fell down and began to slide off the roof of the stands, but a large hand of sand caught him and dropped him off in the portable bed that the medic-nin had prepared. Shino hadn't suffered much damage from the fight, but from Gaara's coffin at the end and the coffin's bindings, he suffered minor bone fractures. The medic-nin nodded to Genma as he came to them and then they promptly dashed back to Konoha hospital with Shino in their care. Gaara jumped off the pillar, creating a small surface of sand beneath his feet as he landed, and he calmly walked back to the small cavern, where the others had returned after the wave of sand perished away. Genma went back to the center again and waved his hand in the air.

"Sabaku no Gaara advances. Now, the fourth match. If we could have Nara Shikamaru and Kankuro would step up to the center her, please."

Shikamaru awoke from his daze in the cavern and saw Kankuro walking ahead. "Don't tell me it's my turn to fight already?!"

Naruto patted Shikamaru on the back with so much force that he went flying a couple feet ahead of Kankuro, landing on his face. "You bet! Get him, Shikamaru!"

Ino cheered for Shikamaru along with Naruto. "Yeah, just hit him where it hurts!"

Shikamaru stood up, dusting his shoulders and walking off toward the center. "I don't think so..." He made a small grin as he stared towards Kankuro. "I think I've got it planned out."

Genma raised his hand as the fighters neared the center. "The fourth fight, Nara Shikamaru against Kankuro, Begin!"


	10. Genius Play

**Hey guys. Here's a simple equation:**

** If a Writer's Block and b Tons of Homework Every Day Including Projects I Had to Do Over Winter Break, then what does a + b equal?**

** It equals me not being able to write a chapter for so long. That school piles me with so much work every day it's a miracle I can remember where I left off here. Also, yeah, this chapter isn't exactly what most people call "long" but I'm updating at 1:30AM at night here. Gimme a break, please. Not to mention they gave me a report to write over the weekend. See what I mean?**

**I'm gonna try as hard as humanly possible to update again on Saturday or Sunday, I really don't know. And yes, I realize I haven't updated for over two months, my sincere apologies not only to the fact that you guys had to wait so long, but also to the fact that I have to do all this work giving me less time to write and generally do fun things.**

**I also gotta thank you guys for keeping my story on Favorites or my story on Alert all this time while I hadn't updated for 2 months. Thanks, you guys rock. **

**Also, uhm, yay for Chapter 10? Do I get a party or a trophy or something for actually maintaining 10 chapters? I thought not. Anywho, enjoy the chapter. Shikamaru vs. Kankuro.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I do own...your soul. Okay, that was a joke, calm down.  
**

* * *

"The fourth fight, Nara Shikamaru against Kankuro, Begin!" 

Everyone was watching intensely. Back in the Chuunin Exams, they thought Shikamaru's fight would be boring, but due to his high strategy they saw it was quite engaging. They wouldn't make the same mistake. Shikamaru stood silent and stared at Kankuro who also stood there. Some one had to make the first move...however, a wrong move at the beginning of the fight could tell the outcome of the match. Shikamaru decided he might as well get it done with.

In one swift movement Shikamaru reached into his small pouch and pulled out a double ended kunai with an explosive tag attached to the middle of it. He noticed that right behind Kankuro was a large rocky pillar along with others. Setting off the tag he threw the kunai at high-speed towards the column in which it quickly impaled it. A split second of silence passed before the explosion set off. Shikamaru brought his arms in front of his face right before it, but he was still blown away and he crashed into the earth wall holding the audience. Kankuro was no where to be seen when the smoke faded and Shikamaru was in clear view. With a quick burst of speed Shikamaru managed to scale one of the columns by putting chakra in the soles of his feet as anyone would. Once he reached the top, he scanned the area carefully. He saw nothing in all direction. Yet, that was when he heard it.

A 'whoosh' sound. The sound of a kunai flying through the air, and just like that, a kunai has pierced Shikamaru's arm. Wobbling from the intensity of the sudden hit, Shikamaru stumbled and fell backwards, off the column. That column was at least ten or twenty feet high. He might not be able to continue on with the fight if he landed on his back from that height. He was running out of time...no, he **was** out of time. It was as if he had just received a godsend because something saved him. A second before he hit the ground, Kankuro's puppet, Karasu, was holding Shikamaru upside down in the air by his ankle. Shikamaru expected what happened next to happen. Using very precise movement of his fingers, Kankuro made Karasu throw Shikamaru half way against the battlefield. Shikamaru landed on his stomach and slid to a stop. Standing up, he quickly took off his vest (meaning now he only had his fishnet shirt on) and wrapped the vest around the bleeding stab and tied it to prevent it from getting infected. He looked up to Kankuro and Karasu with a bit of glory on his face. He already had his plan without much thinking done. This alerted Asuma and Kurenai in the Waiting Area.

"He's already got his strategy," Asuma said in a cocky voice.

"He didn't go through his thinking phase?" Kurenai asked Asuma.

"Not exactly...he's been in this situation before!"

Ino looked up at her sensei. "When was that?"

"The Chuunin Exam Preliminaries!" Asuma said with a grin. "When he fought Kin, her bells had thin strings. Strings that thin don't make shadows at low levels. Kankuro is using chakra threads to control Karasu, and they're just as thin as Kin's."

"Oh yeah!" Naruto exclaimed with excitement! "And look at Kankuro's hands!"

It was true. Shikamaru could easily win using that strategy. Kankuro was fighting with his hands low, and if his hands were low, the chakra threads were low. Shikamaru took his chance. Leaping forward into the air with a kunai in hand, Kankuro responded by sending Karasu forward shooting out dozens of kunai every few seconds. Shikamaru, landing from his leap, quickly made the hand seal and his shadow began to extend. There was a major drawback though. He couldn't move during his Kage Mane no Jutsu or else it wouldn't work. As his shadow curved around Karasu and subdued itself underneath the chakra threads, Karasu released a dozen more kunai straight for Shikamaru. If Shikamaru didn't bind himself to Kankuro soon, it would be over. The shadow scurried along as the kunai flew towards him. He also noticed something else...where the kunai were going. Only two would be a problem: one headed for his center chest and one headed for the middle of his face around the nose. He didn't have to worry though...

Kankuro was now bound to Shikamaru. In an instant Shikamaru ducked dodging the barrage of kunai that were headed his way. Standing back up straight, he sighed with relief. It looked as if Shikamaru was the definite victor. Kankuro seemed to have a desperate expression on his face...what would he do? What could he do? What should he do?

"First I have to get rip of that troublesome contraption," Shikamaru said suddenly, alerting everyone.

Shikamaru was a couple of feet away from Karasu. Kankuro's left side was facing Karasu. As Shikamaru silently walked over to Karasu, Kankuro went further away from it. Shikamaru inspected the machine quickly; he only had around three minutes left with his Kage Mane. Another amazing idea then hit Shikamaru.

Shikamaru pulled out a single explosive tag. Kankuro followed his movements but nothing happened on his side. Placing the tag on Karasu's face, he quickly set it off and ran in such a direction that while the distance between Shikamaru and Karasu increased, the distance between Kankuro and Karasu increased. Noticing the tag was just about ready to explode, he quickly released his shadow a split second before the explosion took place.

As the explosion...well...exploded...Shikamaru ran and took cover with his back against a column. Kankuro went flying through the air colliding with a pillar. His rib cage and arms were badly damaged, and he had dozens of burns over his body. He was not in ideal shape. The pieces of wood from Karasu were scattered about the area. Then, in a small puff of smoke, Genma appeared in the center of the area.

"Nara Shikamaru advances. Now we need Hyuuga Hinata and Haruno Sakura to come up here, and a little faster than our previous contestants."

Shikamaru walked over Kankuro and held out a hand with a light and small grin. Kankuro accepted and managed to stand up. The Medical Ninja then quickly ran off with Kankuro. Shikamaru was also taken away so the stab could be properly treated. Hinata slowly walked forward, thumbs trembling with an emotion she could not exactly comprehend. Sakura raised an eyebrow at her and shrugged, simply walking ahead of her. They both stood together at the center of the stage, face to face.

"Hyuuga Hinata against Haruno Sakura, the fifth match. Also, please remember; this is not a cat fight. Fight like you learned how to fight. Go ahead and start."


End file.
